Liquid Courage
by arayoflight
Summary: All human. Bella is caught off guard when Edward reappears in her life. Can she cope with her feelings and be his friend, or will she push for something more? Canon pairings.
1. Frustrations

**Disclaimer : I do not own Twilight, not the way Stephenie Meyer does.**

His arms wrapped around me, pulling my back to his chest. His hands on my hips, his chin on my shoulder, it felt so right, like we were made for each other. The music pulsed around us and our hips swayed with the beat, mine grinding into his.

He started to move his hands, running down to my knees, up my thighs. He grazed my stomach, and moved his hands to my sides, placing the gentlest of touches along my curves.

My hands had a mind of their own as they moved up and around his neck and tugged at his hair, bringing him closer to me, if that was even possible.

He placed the softest of kisses on my neck and then proceeded to suck and nip at the skip their. In a sort of half whisper-moan, I said his name. I could hear my voice brimming with lust in its huskiness, and he seemed to as well. He moved his hands back down further, further, until he hovered above the spot that was aching with need. He reached down and

I woke up.

Agh, I thought to myself, yet another unsatisfying night. Stupid, pathetic hormones. Sexual frustration was not something I enjoyed.

I reached over to turn off my alarm, which was playing the song that had been pulsing in my dream. I hit snooze, hoping to fall back asleep, and just when I fell into the half-sleep dreamy state, I heard a loud buzzing noise. Cell phones. Damn them.

I checked the caller ID, and upon seeing the flashing ALICE, answered.

"Hey Alice." I hoped she wouldn't notice the I-just-woke-up-and-it's-too-fucking-early deepness in my voice.

But, of course, she did.

"Isabella Marie Swan! Do not tell me you just woke up! Do you _know_ what time it is?!" Alice, evidently, was not a person who liked to waste any time. She said the days were not long enough. I vehemently argued that it was the night that needed more hours.

"Um…I didn't just wake up?" I usually did what Alice told me to do, she was not a fun person to be around when she was angry.

"Bella!" She whined, "It's ten fucking thirty! We have a meeting at eleven! What were you doing?! Nevermind, I know that answer, sleeping. Get ready and meet me at the office, I'll have coffee ready. Hurry!" And with that, my conversation with Alice was over.

"Oh I love you too Ali." I mumbled sarcastically to an already dead phone line. Shit, was it really ten thirty? Unfortunately, that just meant I had to take an extra fast shower.

Unlike Alice, it really didn't take me long to get ready. A pencil skirt, navy blouse, flat boots, and I was ready to go. I would have liked time to put my hair up, but this would have to do.

I was out of my apartment at 10:55, and arrived at the office at 11:00 on the dot. I sped to the elevator, cursed it for being so slow, and practically ran to the conference room, where I found Alice and no one else.

"Alice…where is everyone? You said we had a—"

"Yeah, well, I lied." I just stared at her. I didn't understand. Why would she rush me to get up, shower really fast, and get dressed in formal work attire if we didn't have to be at work? She was up to something, that much I knew.

"Alice, what is going on? I took a fucking 5 minute shower, you know that's like the best part of my day, apart from sleeping, which in fact, I had been enjoying before you called, I was even dreaming about _your_ brother who I never get to see and was really enjoying it—"

"You were dreaming about me?" A velvet voice interrupted my babbling.

Shit.

**Sorry for the really short first chapter! I'm trying to make myself add more details, be patient, this is my first fanfic.**


	2. surprise the girl who hates surprises

**Disclaimer : I do not own Twilight, not the way Stephenie Meyer does.**

"_You were dreaming about me?" A velvet voice interrupted my babbling._

_Shit._

Every so slowly, I turned around, though not before giving Alice a death stare. How dare she? For a small person, she seriously had a huge brain.

I had to give her some credit, though. She honestly fooled me. I had believed the meeting ruse and rushed to meet her on time, although I wished I had concentrated a bit more on my appearance. I mean, after not seeing the guy I was in love with for three years, I wanted to look amazing, not like I had rushed out of bed.

He definitely did not look like he had just woken up. After I had carefully completed my turn (I didn't want to embarrass myself anymore by falling), I looked at him. And boy, did I look. Ogled is a better word, or maybe eye sexed. Yeah, I definitely eye-sexed him, hard.

He looked better than before, if that was even possible. His hair was a bronze mess, like he had just rolled out of bed after having amazing sex. And it was hot. I couldn't count how many times I had fantasized about running my fingers through that hair.

His green eyes sparkled, reminding my why my favorite gem was the emerald. Apart from his hair, his eyes were my favorite thing about him, I felt like I could get lost in them. His dying-to-be-kissed lips were turned up into the crooked smile that made my heart skip a beat. He had a little stubble covering his chin, my favorite. I could only see the outline of his chest underneath his blue t-shirt, and that made me imagine ripping it off and kissing, further and further down until—

Stop it! I told myself. Stop, stop, stop. I couldn't afford to get turned on right now, it would be really, really bad if I jumped him with Alice right there. Damnit! Why did he have to be so goddamn sexy?

Alice cleared her throat, and I realized I had totally been caught completely undressing her brother with my eyes. I felt the heat rising to my cheeks, and could only imagine how red my cheeks were. Edward's smile widened and his eyes danced with amusement. Stupid blushing…

"Bella," He made my voice sound like music. "It's been way too long." He smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes.

"Yeah, what 3 years?" And 87 days, but who was counting? God, my voice sounded like someone scratching a chalkboard compared to his.

"Crazy, right? It seems like just yesterday I was saving you from killing yourself by tripping on a completely flat surface." He chuckled, I swooned.

"Ah, and the witty banter begins." Alice interjected. "Seriously, would it kill you guys to talk like normal people for a second? I don't have the energy to try to keep up with the sarcasm today." Alice, lacking energy? Impossible.

"Alice, since when do you lack energy? Every time I see you you're practically bouncing off the walls? What have you done to her, Bella?" Edward's smile told me he was kidding, but I couldn't help thinking that our brains were on the exact same wavelength.

"Seriously, Alice, you're the one who called me at 10:30 on a _Saturday_ to meet you for an 11:00 meeting that we don't have." It was her fault, if she hadn't planned this little let's-surprise-the-girl-that-hates-surprises, she wouldn't be awake right now.

"Ah, but Bella, you have a meeting with me. You don't find that important?" Edward pouted like a 5 year old who had just gotten his candy taken away from him. Damn him, he was too cute for his own good.

"Don't get me wrong, Edward, it's great to see you. But c'mon, you know I'm not a morning person. At all." I glared at him. He and Alice both should have known better, they both had to deal with me when I had morning classes in college.

"I'm sorry, all those mornings of you walking to class like a zombie had me under the impression that you loved the morning." He smirked. Ah, sarcasm. Our language of choice.

"Well, you know zombies, peppiest peop-um, undead out their." I pumped my fist while holding the other one in a very zombiesque style. "Z-O-M-B-I-E-S" Edward cracked up.

"Wow, Bella, you make a great zombie cheerleader. I think there may be a career for you in really cheesy horror movies. Your acting skills are amazing!" He laughed. If only he knew that my acting skills were amazing; he still didn't know I was in love with him.

"You two are the weirdest people I've ever met in my life. I'm going to get coffee." She turned to walk away.

"Okay Alice, we'll try not to make any more mind boggling jokes while you're gone." I faintly heard her snort as she left the room.

Edward chuckled again. Well, I was clearly making myself look like the biggest idiot ever. Filtering what came out of my mouth was never one of my strengths when I was around Edward. Probably because of the madly in love with him factor.

"So Edward," Smooth, Bella, why don't you just start talking about the weather now? "What brings you to Seattle? I thought you were some big shot in Chicago?" A smile played on the corner of my lips. I was genuinely happy that Edward had done amazing for himself, just like I knew he would.

He visibly cringed, however, when I said "big shot". He always was a modest one.

"Ha ha Bella. Actually, I'm here to move my stuff in. The apartment's finally mine. Got the papers signed yesterday. Real estate agents suck nowadays. I had to wait for like 4 months before they sent me the right papers. Would have been easier for me to do it myself."

Wait. Move his stuff to _his_ apartment. Here, in Seattle? Where I lived? Yes! Wait, actually, no! Now it was going to be even harder for me to conceal my feelings, with him being around all the time now.

"You're…moving here?" I asked, still shell-shocked.

"Yeah…Alice didn't tell you? Doesn't she know you basically despise surprises?" He laughed. "Are you alright, you look a little upset…" He frowned. I still wasn't talking.

"Bella?" He said gently, after about 30 seconds had passed.

Oh, I realized, he thought I was unhappy that he was moving here. Which I was, kind of, but not for the reason he obviously thought. I loved having him around.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry, just kind of shocked. In a good way though, I promise. I missed you these past couple years." I smiled, and hoped it looked genuine.

"Yeah, I missed you too." He smiled, but it looked a little sad, and I swear I saw something burning deep in his eyes.


End file.
